The Clinical Impact of the Sum of the Maximum Standardized Uptake Value on the Pretreatment with F-18-FDG-PET/CT in Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical significance of the sum of the maximum standardized uptake value (sumSUV(max)) on pretreatment positron emission tomography/computed tomography (F-18-FDG-PET/CT) in newly diagnosed small-cell lung cancer (SCLC). Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 145 SCLC patients from March 2005 to June 2013 who underwent pretreatment F-18-FDG-PET/CT. The sumSUV(max) was assessed in all malignant lesions up to a maximum of 5 lesions and a maximum of 2 lesions per organ according to RECIST 1.1. Results: A significant difference was found between the low and high sumSUV(max) groups (low vs. high sumSUV(max), 91.5 vs. 77.3%; p = 0.018) in the response rate (RR) following frontline platinum-based chemotherapy. The group with low sumSUV(max) showed significantly better overall survival (OS; p < 0.001) as well as better progression-free survival (PFS; p < 0.001) compared with the group with high sumSUV(max). Moreover, multivariate analysis revealed that a high sumSUV(max) alone was an independent poor prognostic factor for OS (hazard ratio 2.676; 95% confidence interval, 1.674-4.277; p < 0.001). Conclusions: This study showed that the sumSUV(max) adopted from RECIST 1.1 on pretreatment F-18-FDG PET/CT was significantly correlated with response to treatment, OS, and PFS in patients with SCLC. (C) 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel